The Learning Infrastructure of Self-Managing Work teams

Summary

As ever more organisations strive to become learning organisations, they search for organisational designs that facilitate both individual and organisational learning. Self-managing work teams are considered a promising tool in both respects. However, it appears that such teams do not automatically form a nurturing environment for learning. Supporting and facilitating learning in self-managing work teams therefore requires specific attention.

This PhD thesis develops a framework for the 'learning infrastructure' of self-managing work teams. With the help of a literature review, group interviews and case studies, an overview is provided of important conditions for both formal and informal learning, as well as ways in which to support such learning processes. This framework may serve as a tool for analysing and mapping out the specific learning infrastructure of a particular team and as an overview of core elements of any team's learning infrastructure.